TO THE GREAT AND GENERAL COURT OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



We, the So7ig birds of Massachusetts and their Play- 

 fellows, make this our humble petition} 



JJ/'E knoiv viore about you t/ian you tJdnk we do. We 

 know hozv good you are. We have hopped about tJic 

 roofs and looked in at the zvindozvs of the houses you have 

 b?dlt for poor and sick and hungry people and little lafne and 

 deaf and blind children. We have built our nests in the 

 trees and sutig many a song as zue flew about the gardens and 

 parks you have made so beautiful for your ozvn children, 

 especially your poor childi'en, to play in. 



Eveiy year zve fly a great zvay over the country, keeping all 

 the time zvhere the sun is bright and zvarm ; and zve knozv 

 that whenever you do anything, other people all over the great 

 land betzveen the seas and the great lakes find it out, and 

 pretty soon zvill try to do the same thing. We know ; we 

 know. We are Amei'icans fust as you are. Some of us, like 

 some of you, came from across the great sea, but most of the 

 birds like us have lived here a long while ; and birds like us 

 zvelcomed your fathers when they caine here many yeai's ago. 

 Our fathers and mother's have always done their best to please 

 your fathers and mothei^s. 



^ This petition, reduced in size from the original manuscript now 

 lying in the Massachusetts State House, was written by Hon. George F. 

 Hoar and illuminated by Miss Ellen Hale. 



